


A New Adventure

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-27 01:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7598731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louisa finally gets sent on a new mission for the Soul Riders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Adventure

Stuff was happening. That was Alex’s message, pretty much. Louisa rode into the winery on Goldmist and took her rightful place next to her girlfriend. Lisa gave her a quick kiss, and then they both turned to listen to Alex.

“Nothing beats a little rest, huh?” said Alex. She grinned. “Ready to get back into things?”

“Yes,” said Louisa, grinning back at her. Resting (especially with Lisa) was great, but she really wanted a new adventure. Something with danger and excitement. And she really wanted to reunite Alex with her girlfriend.

“Okay,” said Alex. “So here’s what’s going on now. We know that Anne’s in Pandoria, and we’re doing everything we can to get her back.”

“And we have to get her back soon,” said Lisa. “Every moment in that hell is worse than death.” Louisa sidled closer to her, pressing their legs together. Lisa gave her a smile.

“I know, Lisa,” said Linda. “I know.”

“We all know,” said Louisa. “So why aren’t we doing more?”

“Because,” said Alex, “we have to find a safe way in there. It’s still going to be horribly dangerous but a safe way in and out will be a big help. We just have to wait for Fripp and the druids to find us a safe way in, and they’re doing all they can.”

“Yes, all we can do is wait,” said Linda.

“And if it takes too long?” asked Lisa.

“Then we take it into our own hands,” said Linda. They all shared a grin at that.

“But while we’re waiting, I’ve thought of something that we can do,” said Alex. “We have to keep busy somehow. I want us to keep an eye on our enemy, to make sure that we can be one step ahead of them at all times.”

“Sounds good,” said Louisa.

“I thought you’d say that,” said Alex, smiling. “Linda, you can be our kind of leader. You set yourself up in the library and we’ll report back to you.”

“Good idea, stick the passive one in the library,” said Linda. “Excellent strategizing, leader.”

“I can’t tell whether or not you’re offended,” said Alex.

“I’m not,” said Linda, laughing. “I like being surrounded by books.”

“Good,” said Alex.

“And me, Louisa and you will be out in the field?” asked Lisa.

“Yes,” said Alex, smiling knowingly at them.

“Brilliant,” said Lisa, squeezing Louisa’s thigh. Louisa blushed and grinned at Alex.

“So, shall we get started?” asked Louisa.

“Yes,” said Alex.

“I’ll be in the library,” said Linda. She put Meteor in the stable and then walked into the library.

“Right. Louisa, I’ve decided to give you Observation Point 42,” said Alex. “I know that you’d prefer to be in the Forgotten Fields with your girlfriend, but this spot will give you a good view of the Dark Core Headquarters.”

“Yeah, if she has a pair of binoculars,” said Tin Can.

“Oh, you don’t have a pair of binoculars?” asked Alex.

“No,” said Louisa.

“Oh. Well, you can borrow a pair of mine,” said Alex. “I have a lot.” They all shared a chuckle at that. Alex handed over the binoculars and Louisa put them in her bag. “You can keep those.”

“Thanks,” said Louisa. “I will spy on girls with them.”

“That’s what I use them for,” said Alex, shrugging. “Right, now let’s all set off.”

“I’ll see you around,” said Lisa, and gave her one last kiss before galloping off with Starshine.

Louisa set herself up at the observation point and lifted the binoculars to her eyes. She could see the Dark Core base in the distance, surrounded by thick black smoke or clouds or something.

“Nothing going on there,” said Louisa. “So that’s what the night time spell looks like from the outside. I’ll come back tomorrow.” Something caught her ear. “Hold on, what’s that?”

“It sounds like somebody screaming,” said Goldmist. They both looked down over the steep drop, and Louisa caught a hint of long red hair.

“Hi Sonja, what are you doing down there?” asked Louisa, pulling up Goldmist next to the fallen girl.

“Ow, my head. I was riding my horse around here and suddenly that rune stone over there started glowing and he just bolted,” said Sonja, rubbing her head.

“Why weren’t you wearing a helmet?” asked Louisa. Sonja looked pointedly at Louisa’s own beanie. “You know what, never mind. So where’s your horse?”

“I don’t know,” said Sonja. “I fell off and he disappeared somewhere. I hope he’s okay. Stupid ugly rune stone.”

Louisa turned around and looked at the rune stone behind her. “Oh, that rune stone. I’ve crashed a lot of times in the race here because I was too busy looking at it.” She laughed.

“Well you can look at it later,” said Sonja. “Can you take me to the vet? I want her to see if it’s bad enough to go to the hospital.”

“Alright,” said Louisa. “Climb aboard.” Once Sonja was seated safely behind her, Louisa rode quickly to the vet in Jarlaheim and set Sonja down gently.

“Thanks,” said Sonja, grinning at her. “You’re a good friend.”

“You’re welcome,” said Louisa. While the vet scolded Sonja for not wearing a helmet, Louisa rode back to Paddock Island to inspect the rune stone.

The stone was glowing and making noises just like it had since it had appeared a week ago. But now, she could feel the magic. It was almost overwhelming.

“Let’s go tell Linda about this,” said Louisa. Goldmist agreed, and they took the trailers back to the winery. It looked empty now, without the Soul Riders standing around discussing something or other. Louisa left her horse outside the manor and walked into the library, smiling upon seeing Linda.

“Oh, hi Louisa,” said Linda. “You look worried. What’s up?”

“You know that rune stone that appeared on Paddock Island a week ago?” asked Louisa.

“The one that lights up and makes noise? Yeah, you told us about that,” said Linda. “Alex knows more about rune stones than I do. She talks to them sometimes. Kinda. It’s kinda hard to explain, you’d be better off asking her yourself.”

“Okay,” said Louisa. “Where is she? She didn’t say where her lookout spot was.”

“I don’t know,” said Linda. “Go ask the people around the winery, maybe one of them saw where she went.”

“Okay. Um, there are a lot of girls called Alex so do you know her last name?” asked Louisa.

“Duh,” said Linda. “It’s Cloudmill.”

“That makes her sound like a Pegasus,” said Louisa.

“I know,” said Linda. “Now go find her, I have to get back to research.” She turned back to a book that looked suspiciously like one from a popular fantasy series, and Louisa left the library in search of her missing friend.

She had no luck until she was pointed in the direction of Tyra. From there, she was told to go to Fort Pinta.

“Yeah, she was here,” said James. “And then she had to leave to go see our mother in the city. She wanted me to go with her but mama’s always asking me for money and I’m not giving her any. I’m not going to feed her filthy habit.”

Louisa growled and quickly headed to the bus stop before she could ‘accidentally’ hit him. Of course, she didn’t know the full story, but she liked to think that there was a little good in everyone.

The café was pretty crowded, but one table had a wide space around it. Louisa headed there, suddenly worried. Sure enough, she found Alex there talking to someone who looked like her mother and took a seat at a nearby table to wait. Alex spotted her, of course.

“Oh, hi Louisa, this is my mother,” said Alex. “Mama, this is the friend I told you about, Louisa.” Her mother didn’t look like she heard, too busy running her hands through her hair in agitation and scratching her arm. Louisa recognised the nervous tics- Alex did them too. “Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, you can’t get so down on yourself, mama.”

“And why shouldn’t I?” asked her mother. “I’m a bad mother. We never had any money, we barely had enough to eat… and we all know that I was never there. Not when it mattered.”

“But we were happy,” said Alex, taking her mother’s hand. “And you were there for important things. Maybe not for typically important things, but you were there for me when I needed you. And when that other thing happened, you were there then too.”

“But I wasn’t looking out for James, you took that job on yourself. You took on a job yourself. Nobody would hire someone like me,” said her mother.

“That doesn’t matter,” said Alex. “I liked looking out for James. And I liked working. I still like it.”

“But if I was looking out for him, he might not have been taken,” said her mother. She took her hand back to wipe away tears, and then her hand drifted back to her arm.

“You can’t blame yourself for that,” said Alex with an angry growl. “I should never have taken him to that stupid race, then maybe he wouldn’t have been pulled into this.”

“Oh, Alex, you couldn’t have known that it would happen,” said her mother. “Nobody did. Your friend is a Seer, right? And she didn’t see it, so how could anyone?”

“Exactly,” said Alex. “I couldn’t have known and you couldn’t have known. Stop blaming yourself for things that were out of your control!”

“But you just- oh, I understand now,” said her mother. “You’re smart, Alex. Smarter than me. You were smart enough to stay away from boys, for one thing.”

“Not bad girls, though,” said Alex. “Honestly, I’m just glad that you were always fine with me being the way I am. You could’ve blamed dad for that, but you didn’t.” Louisa was glad to hear that.

“Your father…” Her mother sighed. “He abandoned me. Everyone abandoned me. Because I’m a bad person and a bad mother.”

“No.” Alex grabbed her hand again. “You’re a good mother. Don’t ever say that you’re a bad mother or a bad person because you raised us and we’re fine. The Cloudmill family would be nothing if not for you.”

“You’re the strong one,” said her mother. “Not me.”

“I’m strong because you taught me to be strong,” said Alex. “You have to believe that, mama.”

“You should have learned strength by choice, not because you had to,” said her mother.

“You can’t change the past, just the future,” said Alex. “Stop thinking about what could have been and instead think about what could be. Just try to be happy for once. I know it’s hard, I know that better than anyone, but sometimes smiling is the only way to stop yourself from losing it completely. Just give me a smile and I’ll be home for Christmas, okay?”

“Okay,” said her mother, and gave her daughter a watery smile.

“Yay, Christmas is saved!” said Alex, and then the fake smile morphed into a real one. There wasn’t a dry eye in that part of the café, but at least the aura was happier now than it had been. Louisa reached for a napkin and accidentally knocked over a sugar dispenser. She frantically picked it up, afraid that she’d broken the moment, but she needn’t have worried.

“I think that horse girl wants your attention,” said Alex’s mother, wiping her eyes on a napkin.

“Right,” said Alex. She wiped her eyes on the napkin that her mother handed her, and then turned to Louisa, clearing her throat. “Mothers, huh?”

“Yeah,” said Louisa. She suddenly missed her mother, all the way over on the other side of the world. But she couldn’t call her now, there were more important things to do.

“They’re always so down on themselves but they try their hardest and they always want the best for us. Even if it doesn’t seem like it at the time,” said Alex.

“Stop talking about it, you’re going to make me cry,” said Louisa, and tried to laugh to beat back the sadness.

“Okay, okay. So what did you come here to talk about?” asked Alex.

“That new rune stone on Paddock Island feels magical,” said Louisa.

“Ah. Yeah, I’m meant to be measuring them but I’ve just been distracted lately,” said Alex, sheepishly pushing some hair behind her ear.

“Of course,” said Louisa. “Why are you so calm about saving Anne now anyway? Last I heard, you were just about ready to go in guns blazing to save her.”

“Never mind, it’s personal,” said Alex. “I’ll go look at the rune stone with you tomorrow morning.”

“Okay, I’ll see you there,” said Louisa.

“Actually, wait,” said Alex. “Go to Elizabeth and see about getting a rune wand, you’ll need one.”

“Alright,” said Louisa. “Is that all?”

“Yes,” said Alex with a laugh. “Now, go.”

“Louisa, I see you’re riding in the light of Aideen,” said Elizabeth. Louisa looked at the crystal, but it was still unlit in her bag. She frowned in confusion.

“I’ve come for a rune wand,” said Louisa.

“Oh, of course. You should really have one of your own by now, I can’t keep lending you mine,” said Elizabeth. “Go see Fripp, he should be able to help you make one or get one.”

“Will do,” said Louisa. She rode Goldmist around the spiral, and then they were in the Stone Circle. Fripp was there waiting for her.

“Hello, Louisa,” he said, waving a paw at her to ask her to come nearer. “The stars are aligning to show me the pattern. All will be revealed all too soon. Do you know who you are? Do any of us really know who we are? It’s all coming together and Fripp Fripp Fripp!” Louisa blinked at the strange space rodent.

“I need a rune wand,” said Louisa. To Goldmist, she added, _“I think Fripp’s lost it.”_

 _“If he ever had it,”_ said Goldmist, and Louisa stifled a giggle.

“A rune wand you say? Yes, I’ve seen that you have one in the future, so I may as well give you one now,” said Fripp.

 _“I wonder what else he’s seen in the future that he’s not telling us,”_ thought Louisa.

“I’ll open up a small rift into Pandoria and you’ll then have to quickly grab your rune wand,” said Fripp.

“Okay,” said Louisa. A small shaft of pink light appeared and Louisa stepped towards it. When her wand appeared, she snatched it quickly before any creeping tendrils of darkness could infiltrate into their world. As she walked back to Fripp with the wand in hand, the rift sealed itself shut with a sharp crack. Goldmist pinned his ears back and startled at the sound, but he didn’t run.

“There you are, your very own rune wand,” said Fripp. “Now, go and meet with Alex. Or is that supposed to happen tomorrow? Bah, I don’t know. When you can see all as I do, it gets all liney-winey and time goes all wobbly.” Louisa decided to leave while Fripp was babbling to himself.

The next day, Louisa waited by the runestone for Alex bright and early.

“She should be here by now,” said Louisa.

“Just wait for her,” said Goldmist. Louisa sighed but waited like she’d been instructed. Eventually, Alex appeared riding down the path of the racetrack.

“Here she is,” said Louisa.

“Sorry I’m late, I was doing stuff,” said Alex.

“Oh, is that her name?” asked Louisa, and Alex shared a laugh with her.

“Anyway. I trust you enough now to teach you some more about my magic,” said Alex. “One of my powers is the ability to measure the flow of magic between the two worlds. And I’m hoping that you have that ability too.”

“Cool,” said Louisa. She took her rune wand out and now held it between her hands.

“So you have a rune wand too now? Excellent,” said Alex. “Now, let’s begin.” Louisa tried to pay attention to Alex’s instructions, but it was fairly difficult. She botched the first reading, but Alex patiently explained it to her again. This time, she took the reading correctly.

“That wasn’t too hard,” said Louisa with a little laugh.

“No it wasn’t,” said Alex. She smiled at her friend. “You’re a natural. Now, you’ll have to take readings every day for a while. The rune stones are spotted all around the island, I’m sure you’ve seen them.”

“Yeah, I have,” said Louisa, nodding.

“Good,” said Alex. “I’ll be at the winery if you need me.”

Once Alex was gone, Louisa walked Goldmist up to the lookout point and took out her binoculars again. Nothing seemed to happen at first… and then it did.

“Ooh, lightning. That looks magicky,” she said. “Let’s get back to the headquarters, Goldie!” She slapped his rump and he made an offended noise. Louisa giggled and rode him back to the winery, eager to tell Linda the exciting new developments.

“Hi,” said Linda. “I’ve just been reading something interesting. What’s up?”

“That looks suspiciously like a fantasy novel,” said Louisa. “There’s something going on at Dark Core HQ. Something with lightning?”

“Oh, sounds like the portal’s active,” said Linda. “There’s always rain and a storm when the portal’s active. I think it’s to cover up the activity or something. Go out and have a look, you know the place pretty well.”

“I do,” said Louisa, smirking. Sometimes she went out there just to have a look around, but everything was always locked up tight and nobody ever appeared.

“Well, anyway, be careful,” said Linda. “In the darkness of Dark Core, nobody can hear you scream.”

“Ominous,” said Louisa, and laughed. But Linda wasn’t laughing.

“Just be careful,” said Linda.

“I will,” said Louisa.

Goldmist seemed happy to finally be taken out to the Dark Core headquarters. He swished his tail as they stepped off onto the platform.

“Sorry, Goldie, you’ve gotta stay here,” said Louisa. “There’s a thin pipe that I have to run along to get past some guards.”

“Okay,” said Goldmist. “Be careful.”

“I will,” said Louisa. And then she took off, making her way to the helipad where the portal was located.

Immediately upon reaching the helipad, Louisa could tell that something was up. Electricity arced out from the portal, and dark runes cascaded down the front of it. It certainly hadn’t looked like this last time. There was also a strange man standing in front of the portal with a Dark Horse beside him. Louisa wanted his coat but stealing it would probably be a bad idea. Instead, she listened in to his speech.

“We have a dangerous enemy here,” he was saying. “It almost feels like… but no, she couldn’t be here.” Louisa sunk down a little more in her hiding place.

“Of course she wouldn’t be, Darko,” said one of the goons. “We guard this place too well.”

“Regardless, we must be on our guard,” said Darko. “Fortunately, we have someone coming to aid us in our fight against our ancient enemy. You may remember Elise.”

“Yes! Yes, Nihili! At last!” Sabine jumped up and down in her excitement while the other two Dark Riders sighed.

“Yes,” said Darko. “While we wait for her, you three have to look after her horse. I made him myself, now that we’ve lost Pi. Soon, the Generals will be reunited again. And then we can finally get started on the Dark Ceremony to free our master.”

“I thought we’d manage to get through this whole thing without her,” said Katja.

“Did you honestly believe Sangordha when he said that?” asked Darko. He snorted. “His precious grandson may be his get, but he has no more magic than a mere human. He should never have brought him here. One of his sons might have worked, though. But no, Elise is needed for the Dark Ceremony. I know that she likes to cause a little… discord among you, but you’ll just have to work with her.”

“Okay,” said Katja. “I’ll try not to let her get to me.”

“Good,” said Darko. “I will return soon. With Elise. Be ready.”

The meeting ended then, and Louisa scampered to the pipe which had been made slippery by rain. Still, she somehow managed to climb back down to the platform where Goldmist waited for her. She had to go back to the library and update Linda on what was happening.

“Any news?” asked Linda, looking up from what was definitely a fantasy novel.

“Loads,” said Louisa. She took a seat next to her friend. “There was this guy called Darko, and he said that Justin isn’t going to become their fourth Dark Rider after all. Instead, they’re bringing back someone called Elise but Sabine called her Nihili.”

“Oh, I’ve read about Darko,” said Linda. “Stupid name, if you ask me. But he’s a kind of lecturer or teacher to them. I haven’t found anything about Elise but Nihili doesn’t sound too promising, does it?”

“I dunno, it could just be a pet name,” said Louisa. “Sabine’s the only one who called her that.”

“Sabine has a girlfriend?” asked Linda. “Huh, I never would’ve guessed.”

“Yeah, me neither,” said Louisa. “So, what’s next?”

“Now I’m going to call a meeting of the wider druid community,” said Linda. “It might take a while for them to all come here, though. Patience, Louisa.”

“I’ve been patient for months now,” said Louisa, pouting. “When will we finally get to the good stuff?”

“Soon,” said Linda. “Remember my promise.”

“Okay,” said Louisa. She left the library and rode off to measure more rune stones.

Two days later, Louisa had measured enough rune stones and had been told to wait by Alex. She’d climbed up to an old mountain outpost or something near Firgrove, halfway up the mountain. She had a notebook on the picnic table and was writing, gazing out at the view every now and then.

“What’s wrong?” asked Supernova, hearing her sigh.

“I don’t know where Lisa is,” said Louisa sadly. “I forgot to ask before, and now the others are too busy to tell me.”

“She’ll show up,” said Nova. She suddenly nickered, as if greeting another horse, and Louisa turned to see a miracle appearing off the mountain.

“Lisa,” said Louisa, grinning, and got up.

“Hi,” said Lisa. She looked tired, but she smiled upon seeing Louisa and pulled her into a hug once she’d dismounted.

“Where’ve you been?” asked Louisa, kissing her.

“Keeping watch from the mountain top,” said Lisa. “And trying to communicate with the other Primeval Tree.” She yawned.

“Oh yeah, because sending you out to check on a Primeval Tree is such a good idea,” said Louisa. “Maybe she did it by accident though.”

“I offered,” said Lisa. “Don’t blame Alex, I thought I could do it. Apparently not. Being on that clifftop and afraid of falling… it reminded me of being there.”

“Oh no.” Louisa held her girlfriend close to her, feeling a strong wave of protectiveness. “I’ll take over if you want. It’s better than watching and waiting. Well, more waiting. My lessons haven’t been prepared yet.”

“Lessons?” asked Lisa, pulling back to look at her.

“Alex is going to teach me some more spells,” said Louisa, grinning. “Isn’t that exciting?”

“Yeah, it is,” said Lisa. She yawned again. “Sorry, I’m exhausted. I’m going to get a room at the inn here for the night if you want to join me.”

“I’ll come,” said Louisa. She grabbed her notebook and pen off the table and put them back in her backpack before mounting Supernova again and following Lisa down into Firgrove.

While Lisa slept, Louisa sat next to her on the bed and continued writing. It was a good way to pass the time. And then the wait wouldn’t seem so long.


End file.
